GLDD expects the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award additional option work items on the contract by mid-2019 with a value of $97 million, resulting in a total contract value of $210 million.

According to the Corps of Engineers, this second contract calls for deepening approximately 5 miles of the St. Johns River in addition to the ongoing deepening of the first contract, which covers approximately 3 miles from the entranceway inland.

The second contract’s base funding will cover roughly 2.5 river miles of deepening, with the remainder of the funds provided in August 2019 to cover the additional 2.5 river miles.

The contact the second of multiple construction contracts designed to deepen the existing Federal navigation channel from its current authorized depth of 40 feet to 47 feet. Contract work will also widen specific areas for two-way traffic and turning, and also provide some advance channel maintenance.

The second contract includes dredging roughly 5.7 million cubic yards of material from River Mile 3 near the Naval Station Mayport runway, westerly to Mile 8 at the east tip of La Baron Island. The work does not involve blasting. The contractor will transport excavated material and place it in the Jacksonville Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site located about six miles southeast of the entrance channel jetties. The contract includes the base, Mayport runway to Buck Island, and Option A from Buck Island to La Baron Island, according to the Corps of Engineers.

GLDD is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2018, with completion of both base contract and expected options in the second quarter of 2021.